Washington state students to get less classroom time under new Dem-backed plan

Democrats in the Washington state Senate have proposed new legislation that would cut learning time in classrooms so students can spend time with non-teachers for educational activities separate from the standard curriculum, while teachers participate in “Professional Learning Communities.”

As a result of the bill, instruction time for students would be cut by four hours a week, from 30 hours to 26 hours. According to current state law, RCW 28A.150.220, each of Washington’s 295 school districts are required to provide students at least 1,080 hours of classroom instruction for students in grades nine through 12, at least 1,000 hours for students in grades 1 through 8, and at least 450 hours for students in kindergarten.



SB 5054 would redefine the term “instructional hours” in Washington state law to include the time students spend with non-teachers. 

State Senator Lisa Wellman, a sponsor of the bill said the four hours would be up to the schools and districts to decide how to spend the time.

She told Fox 13, "Maybe they decide that they go outside for nature learning, and they go and they collect plants and they collect stones, and they have to identify them. They could be doing any kind of a project. A teacher could be off in a corner with a small group of children in the same classroom, not part of a process learning community, but with a group of students while other students are working on projects."

Liv Finne, director of education for the Washington Policy Center told the outlet, "It's a reduction in quality of the education that children would be receiving by changing the definition of instruction time. To see a bill like this come out of Washington State Legislature is just a disservice to the people of Washington state and to their children."

Finne added, "It’s ironic the fact that the state tests show that 62 percent of students are failing the state math test, 49 percent are failing the state English test and on, the heels of Covid when students were hurt so badly. To see bills like this reducing instruction time when clearly what’s needed is students need more instruction time to catch up from the pandemic learning loss."

Finne cited research from institutions including Harvard, Stanford, and Georgetown indicating the learning loss as a result of the government-mandated closures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic is already severe. Losing out on nearly two years of instruction has taken away the groundwork that students need to succeed ahead. And economists are projecting that students will lose significant lifetime earnings and that there will be a drop in our gross national product. And so this is a real emergency."

According to Finne, SB 5054 is being proposed as the level of academic achievement provided to students in the public school system is falling. She cited the 2022 Smarter Balance state tests which revealed that public schools failed to educate 62 percent of students adequately in math, and 49 percent of students adequately in reading.  

Additionally, Finne stated that SB 5054 would contribute to inequity in education because students attending private and charter schools would continue to receive full instructional time with fully-qualified teachers and Washington’s 1.1 million K-12 public school students would now be denied access to a quality education, not just by the loss of learning hours but by filling classrooms with staff who are not qualified to teach, resulting in lower academic standards, even as teachers are paid at record-high levels. 

Multiple Washington school districts, including Seattle, the state's largest, are already exploring shuttering schools and laying off staff due to plummeting enrollment. 

According to the Associated Press, over 10,000 public school students in Washington state left the system during the government-mandated closures in response to Covid, homeschooling rates in the state nearly doubled and private school enrollment spiked. The loss end up being a best-case scenario as it was revealed in a 2021 presentation to a state Senate committee that the "November 2021 forecast is, on average, 50,334 students or 4.5 percent lower than the February forecast, and 42,036 students or 3.8 percent lower than the June forecast for the 2021-23 Biennium."

The decline in enrollment comes despite the state funneling record amounts of money into the public schools. Washington taxpayers pay over $1 billion annually into Seattle Public Schools, for approximately 41,000 students, totaling approximately $24,390 per pupil per year and yet the average grade remains below failing. Much of the money continues to go to administrative positions rather than the classroom.

Washington public schools also received millions in Covid funding, but tracking of the money has been almost non-existent.

In response to "equity" concerns, Seattle Public School cut its tracks for gifted students and many other families pulled their kids from districts after special needs programs were cut. 

Safety has also become a concern following multiple incidents on public school campuses, including a fatal shooting and violent homeless encampments on school grounds that school officials refused to clear. In response to the violent BLM/Antifa riots that rocked the city in 2020, the Seattle and Bellevue districts removed school resource officers from the Seattle Police Department from campus.